A reconverted industrial base
Changwon, a city in southeastern South Korea chosen in the 1970s by Park Chung-hee's government as a hub for heavy engineering and weapons production, is today at the center of Hanwha Aerospace's ambitions. The Korea Herald reports this, having taken part in a private visit to the facilities alongside German and Swedish journalists. The article describes a manufacturing complex that draws on an established network of precision-engineering, metalworking and components companies to build increasingly sophisticated military systems.
The structure is divided across several sites: Plant 1 makes aircraft engines and propulsion components, including those for South Korea's space program; Plant 2 produces combat vehicles, launch systems and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense equipment; Plant 3 and the research and development campus focus on fire systems, including the K9 self-propelled howitzer and amphibious assault vehicles.
Automation and technology transfer
According to Hwang Dong-gyu, head of Plant 2, about 70 percent of processes at the Changwon plants are unmanned or automated. At Plant 2, robots perform between 70 and 80 percent of welding operations. The introduction of 3D scanning has cut inspection times for welded hulls from a day and a half to one hour, the manager said. The company is also integrating artificial intelligence into production management systems and into digital twins that monitor the production environment and equipment status in real time.
Hwang indicated that the localization rate of South Korean products exceeds 96 percent: a share that, he said, makes it easier to transfer technologies to customer countries and localize production. Robotization is presented as a lever for increasing volumes while maintaining quality and uniformity, a point the article links to Western industries' difficulty in rapidly replenishing stocks during the war in Ukraine.
From factory robots to unmanned vehicles
Automation does not stop at the plant gates. Hanwha is developing unmanned ground vehicles, or UGVs, as part of a strategy based on teaming between crewed and robotic platforms, known as MUM-T. Projects range from small multi-purpose vehicles to reconnaissance and combat-support platforms. The most ambitious is the H-UGV, an unmanned combat vehicle of about 30 tons expected around 2030, with an intelligent turret armed with a 30–40 mm cannon, a remote weapon station and guided anti-tank missiles.
The company also intends to link weapons and sensors in an integrated battlefield network: Hanwha Systems' AI-based satellite imagery analysis and the Chunmoo multiple launch rocket system should make it possible to detect, identify and classify targets with algorithmic support. However, these are stated goals and programs under development, not capabilities already operational. Still to be verified are the actual timelines for introducing the H-UGV, the results of integrating satellites and rocket launchers, and the real scope of agreements with European customers, which the article cites as a priority market without providing contractual details.
